The poetess Sappho led an uprising against the corrupt government of the island of Lesbos.

Gina tries to commit suicide by jumping into the river but is saved by Teodoro, an innocent young man. Antonio, Teodoro's brother, tries in every way to seduce her.

After fierce Roman commander Marcus Vinicius becomes infatuated with beautiful Christian hostage Lygia, he begins to question the tyrannical leadership of the despotic emperor Nero.

This short film is the only cinematographic experience of Alberto Moravia. It shows some typical themes of the writer: the bourgeois setting, the taste for detail, the eros and the violence that scratch indifference.